Why Joe Hisaishi’s Music for Studio Ghibli Tugs at Our Heartstrings
A personal reflection on the power of composer Joe Hisaishi’s music, combined with Studio Ghibli’s stories, to enchant and touch the viewer.
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10 Rediscovered Minimalist Masterpieces from Japan, Thanks to YouTube
+ Learning about synthesis? Soundfly’s got a definitive new course called Advanced Synths and Patch Design! Preview for free and subscribe for access. Without the internet around to provide an unbroken timeline of artistic events to a potentially endless landscape of wandering eyes, records that couldn’t achieve access to a viable fanbase in the 1980s have mostly, inevitably…
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The COMPASS: Kyoto, Japan
By Marihiko Hara I love how time flows in Kyoto, not too rapidly and not too slowly. A five minute walk will lead me through streets, temples, and gardens, where I can feel that I am in ancient spaces. To know where I stand, all I have to do is find out which direction points north.…
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What the Heck Is a Shakuhachi?
Like many historically significant Japanese things (Zen Buddhism, character writing, the kimono, temple architecture), the shakuhachi originated in China. And while, like the parenthetically aforementioned items on this list, the shakuhachi can claim Chinese origin, over the course of its history, it has diverged and evolved quite differently from its Chinese relative, the xiao. The shakuhachi is an…
